Absolutely no photoshoppery involved here, no siree. I refuse to believe that punk bird is anything less than real, so I can't tell you how Mladen Penev got animals to sit still long enough for impressive haircuts and mustache trims for ad agency Staudinger Franke and their client, the shavers and grooming equipment maker Braun.

Via My Modern Met

A friend of redditor ninjao won a mustache competition boldly known as The International Man of Movember. Here‘s a rear view. What do you think are his superpowers?

Link

A friend of redditor burnworldburn28 made this image for a mustache growing competition. The only sad thing about this photo is that it’s not a family portrait.

Link -via Geekosystem

Paying with plastic? That doesn't mean putting the bill on a credit card anymore. You see, with the new Canadian polymer bills, paying with cash IS paying with plastic.

The Globe and Mail reports what a focus group said about Canada's new $100 bill. I'm tickled with the bit about Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden's mustache:

7. Some respondents felt that Mr. Borden's moustache was poorly groomed. Some of the former prime minister's whiskers fall well below his upper lip in the Bank of Canada's final version of the $100 polymer bill.

8. One focus group in Vancouver thought the double-helix DNA strand on the new $100 bill looked like sex beads, while others saw the Big Dipper.

9. Some groups compared the bills to "Monopoly money," noting the polymer they're made out of felt less real than paper money.

Canada is not the first, actually - polymer notes have been around since the 1990s (Australia was the first country)

Link

When you take the idea that a mustache can double for hair on the head, you get Moustair. It’s weird, I know. The tumblr site has quite a few examples of both famous men and submitted pictures. This one makes Hulk Hogan look a little bit like Captain Kangaroo, don’t you think? Link -via Breakfast Links

Stache Straws – $8.95

Are you embarrassed by your favorite fruity drink? Disguise yourself with the Stache Straws from the NeatoShop. This great set comes with 6 mustache clips and straws.

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more Mustache fun and fantastic Barware & Cocktail items.

Link

]]> http://www.neatorama.com/2011/10/31/stache-straws/feed/ 0 http://www.neatorama.com/2011/10/28/hello-kitty-mustache-coin-bag/ http://www.neatorama.com/2011/10/28/hello-kitty-mustache-coin-bag/#comments Fri, 28 Oct 2011 19:49:04 +0000 Tiffany http://www.neatorama.com/?p=55043

Hello Kitty Mustache Coin Bag – $16.95

There used to be a time when mustaches were only worn by the manliest of men. Not any more. Mustaches are now sported by the cutest of cats. Behold the adorable Hello Kitty Mustache Coin Bag from the NeatoShop.

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more Hello Kitty and Mustache fun!

Link

]]> http://www.neatorama.com/2011/10/28/hello-kitty-mustache-coin-bag/feed/ 0 http://www.neatorama.com/2011/09/26/can-you-explain-this-photo/ http://www.neatorama.com/2011/09/26/can-you-explain-this-photo/#comments Mon, 26 Sep 2011 21:04:33 +0000 Alex http://www.neatorama.com/2011/09/26/can-you-explain-this-photo/

Images via ggaabboo/Flickr

The smiles, the stares, the cigars ... and the epic mustaches. Does anyone care to explain this vintage photograph taken by Knauer Gy. in 1910 Romania? Link

And please would someone more hip than yours truly bring that mustache hair back in style? (Though not this way, mmkay?)

Batstache -  $4.75

Halloween is right around the corner. Show the world you are batty about this fantastic holiday with the Batstache from the NeatoShop. The Batstache is what all the groovy ghosts and ghouls are wearing.

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more amazing Halloween items.

Link

]]> http://www.neatorama.com/2011/09/21/batstache/feed/ 0 http://www.neatorama.com/2011/09/20/tom-sellecks-mustache-can-improve-any-movie/ http://www.neatorama.com/2011/09/20/tom-sellecks-mustache-can-improve-any-movie/#comments Wed, 21 Sep 2011 01:00:14 +0000 John Farrier http://www.neatorama.com/?p=53244

YouTube user Buchan39 has figured it out: adding Tom Selleck’s iconic mustache immediately elevates the quality of any movie. Toy Story? Check. American Beauty? Check. The Exorcist? Check. Steel Magnolias? Well, that’s not in the video, but the ‘stache could only help.

-via Nerd Bastards

Previously: Tom Selleck Saved My Baby

Tentacle Mustache – $3.95

Do you with you could grow a fantastic mustache, but are follicy challenged? You need the Tentacle Mustache from the NeatoShop. This is what all the gentleman squid/human hybrids are wearing.

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more hilarious Gag Gifts & Pranks!

Link

Rose Scented Mustaches – $4.95

Does your life stink?  You need the Rose Scented Mustaches from the NeatoShop!  Now you can enjoy facial hair that freshens your air. Life stinks less when you smell it through Rose Scented Mustaches.

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more fantastic Gag Gifts and Pranks!

Link

Mustache Baking Mold - $11.95

How do you make a cake look more sophisticated?  You make it in the shape of  well-groomed facial hair!

Behold the Mustache Baking Mold from the NeatoShop.   This mold is perfect for making:

• Cakes
• Gelatins
• Corn Bread
• and even Ice Sculptures

Is it time to throw your own mustache themed party?  Yes, I think it is!

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more fabulous Cooking Gadgets.

Link

Ah, the 19th century, when men wore their manliness right on their faces -or maybe they were just afraid of the barber. Luckily, cameras were around during the US Civil War so that we may still admire the mustaches, beards, muttonchops, goatees, and sideburns of brave battlefield soldiers. Smithsonian presents 24 of these faces, and asks you to vote for the best. Ambrose Burnside actually had a style named after him. John McAllister Schofield made up for being bald on top with a foot-long beard. And I believe Alpheus Williams could hurt someone with his waxed whiskers. Pick your favorite! Link

That strange object above, my friend, serves a deadly serious purpose. Raynor of The Rag Bag explains this wonderful curiosity known as the Victorian Mustache Guard:

what you need to understand about the differences between the victorian moustache and the ironic ones that you see hanging around park slope these days is that the victorians were deadly serious about their moustaches, oftentimes going to great pains to dye them just right, wax them perfectly, and curl them precisely. when a hairy dandy supped from his teacup, he was putting his exquisitely quaffed lip hair in peril. the hot tea could melt the wax, wilt the ‘stache, and send streaks of toxic hair dye into his favourite earl grey.

the solution was found in the moustache cup which had a special built-in guard. eventually, this guard was made portable so that if you were invited to tea at the estate of those not fortunate enough to own moustache prophylactic drinkware, you could plunk in your own and save the day.

Link

See also: Mustache items (the ironic ones you see hanging around park slopes these days) from the NeatoShop

The unidentified puppy (real, CGI … maltese?) has been going round the Net, but there’s something missing … ah, yes:

There. Don’t things just look better with a little mustache? via love-eric‘s Tumblr page

See also: NeatoShop’s weird and wonderful Mustache Stuff

With the Lil Sherlock Pacifier from the NeatoShop your baby can now have that well groomed mustache he longs for.  Finally there is a pacifier that is as sophisticated and stylish as your little guy.

Ordinary pacifiers are so 2-minutes ago!

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more fabulous Baby & Kids items!

by Susanne Fuchs1, Melanie Weirich1, Christian Kroos2, Natalie Fecher1, Daniel Pape3,
and Sabine Koppetsch4

If one walks through the first level of the main building at the Humboldt University in Berlin and looks at the portraits of the researchers who studied there, became professors, and in some cases won Nobel prizes, one may conclude that the most important visual signs of a famous person are being a man and having a beard.

Wearing a beard has a long socio-cultural tradition going at least back to the Pharaohs. The ancient Egyptians associated facial hair with the sexual, religious and social power of  the monarch. Indeed, Queen Hatshepsut wore a bodkin beard after her accession to the throne (Wietig, 2005). Lack of facial hair was long considered a sign of weakness
or divine punishment. The first recorded radical shavings were ordered by Alexander the Great to prevent Persians pulling his soldiers’ beards during hand-to-hand fighting. Another tradition relates beards with fertility.

Today, belief in bearded monarchs, male or female, has declined. The general acceptance of facial hair and specific styles of facial hair appears dependent on sex, culture, nation, and fashion. According to the American Mustache Institute, mustache acceptance is between 16 and 35% in  the U.S., though between 72 and 94% in Germany. This paper concerns the influence of facial hair on audio-visual speech intelligibility in noise. It is known that watching the speaker’s face increases the intelligibility of speech in noisy environments (Grant and Seitz, 2000). By observing the cyclical opening and closing of the visible jaw, an observer can identify the rhythmic structure of the spoken utterance or even the focus of a particular sequence (Dohen, Lœvenbruck, and  Hill, 2005).

Facial hair can cover parts of the face such as the upper lip, the teeth, and the larynx. This modifies the visible area of the open mouth, and hence facial hair is responsible for a kind of natural impoverishment of the visual speech signal. Under normal conditions such impoverishment may be marginal for the intelligibility of speech, since auditory information is fully available. However, under noisy conditions such as a cocktail party (in audiovisual speech research terms: multi-talker babble noise), visual cues may be crucial for increasing speech intelligibility (assuming that listeners want to understand their communicative partners). Based on these considerations, we hypothesize that:

(1) Facial hair hiding visible articulatory movements leads to lower speech intelligibility under noisy auditory conditions, longer reaction time, and lower confidence in recognizing the relevant target words.

(2) The shape and location of the beard is crucial for the reduced speech intelligibility in noise. A mustache hiding upper lip movement has a larger impact on visual speech intelligibility than a long chin beard, hiding the larynx only. So in terms of speech intelligibility, is it time for a shave?

Methods
Investigating the interference of facial hair with visual speech intelligibility poses the problem of accurately controlling the amount and shape of facial hair across several speakers while keeping the recording situation constant. Since it is difficult to find participants willing to grow and then cut their beards as needed, we decided to use artificial beards made from natural hair. Two different types were chosen: mustache and long chin beard.

Figure 1: Subjects 1, 2 and 3 without beard (left), with a mustache (middle), and with a long chin beard (right).

Stimuli: Video Recordings
Three male speakers in their mid-20s were recorded (see Figure 1). None had natural facial hair above 3mm at the time of the recording.

The speakers were selected according to their hair colour and texture, which had to fit the colour and texture of the attached facial hair. Two types of facial hair were obtained  in a specialist mask shop. They consisted of natural hair woven into a strip of gauze. The gauze strip was attached to the facial surface with glue (Mastix).

Each speaker read various target words embedded in carrier sentences in three conditions: no beard (beard0), mustache (beard1), and long chin beard (beard2).

Speech Material
Twenty nouns were selected as target words on the basis of their high frequency in the mental lexicon and their semantic content. Their meaning had to fit four carrier sentences without being predictable from the semantic context of the carrier sentence. We tried to make the corpus as phonetically balanced as possible. Only words consisting of two syllables were chosen.

Design
To avoid participants seeing the same speaker with different beards and hence becoming aware of the aim of the study, beard condition was made a between-subject factor while ‘speaker’ was kept within-subject. Thus, a participant would see all three speakers with the same beard type. The audio-only control condition (A) was designed to mirror the audio-visual (AV) condition. Commercial multi- speaker babble noise was added to the original sound track with its loudness set to result in a final signal-to-noise ratio of 3dB. For the audio-video condition (AV), the original video and the noisy audio signal were presented. Each target word plus carrier sentence was presented in six different versions (beard0-AV, beard1-AV, beard2-AV, beard0-A, beard1-A, beard2-A).

Procedures and Participants
The participants were seated approximately 50 cm away from the monitor on which the stimuli were presented and they listened to the stimuli via Sennheiser HD 201 headphones. They were instructed to type the target word on a computer keyboard as soon as they thought they had recognized it. They were told that their response times were measured by pressing the enter button after they typed in the perceived word. Subjects were subsequently prompted to rate their confidence in having correctly identified the target word by selecting a software button with the computer mouse. The test trials (20 target words * 6 conditions * 2 repetitions) were preceded by 5 practice trials. The experiment took approximately 30 minutes.

Forty-four participants took part in the experiment. The participants were randomly assigned to one of three stimuli groups (speakers without beard, speakers with mustache, speakers with long chin beard) though across groups the same gender ratio and a similar age range were maintained.

Results and Discussion
There is clear evidence that speech intelligibility increases when watching the speaker’s face (AV) in comparison to the audio-only (A) condition. This increase is on average 17% for no beard, 20% for moustache and 12% for long chin beard. Speakers with a moustache have in all cases the lowest speech intelligibility, but the improvement is the largest. Speakers with a long chin beard have similar or even better intelligibility in comparison to the others, but their improvement is the least.

Since reaction times were similar for the audio only and the audio-visual condition, all data were pooled together. However, results differ significantly with respect to the beard condition. Subjects showed significantly longer reaction times in the beard1 condition in comparison to beard0 (pMCMC=0.0042) and beard2 (pMCMC=0.0001).

Similar to intelligibility, subjects were most confident when they rated the AV data for the speakers with a long chin beard. The confidence level was significantly larger in the video condition than in the audio-only condition (pMCMC=0.0001) for all beard types.

The comparison between no beard and mustache showed a trend in the expected direction: the mustache reduced intelligibility, lengthened reaction time, and listeners were less confident to perceive the relevant target word than in the no beard condition. However, the findings for the long chin beard went against our expectations. We found an effect of facial hair in the audio-only condition (long chin beard had the best intelligibility followed by no beard and finally the mustache), where no visual information is available. Two likely explanations for this finding can be put forward: First, since the A and AV conditions were presented randomly and the number of target words was limited, a strong learning effect could have taken place. Second, since we glued the beards onto the facial skin of the speakers, it may have caused some irritation, prompting our speakers to produce the relevant sentences in a different way. When all the A and AV data were pooled together, and recognition was split by beard condition and occurrence of the relevant target words from the first to the sixth trial, a clear learning effect was found for no beard and mustache.

However, long chin beard showed not only a learning effect, but results also differed from the no beard and the mustache conditions. We interpreted this as evidence that indeed our speakers used different articulatory strategies when wearing the long chin beard. It may be that the artificial beard impeded natural jaw movements by preventing the surface of the skin from stretching as much as it usually does. This might have caused a different speaking behaviour in our speakers (e.g., hyper-articulation). Results and interpretation would be in agreement with recent findings on the effects of skin stretching on speech production and perception by Ito and colleagues (Ito, Tiede & Ostry, 2009). Accordingly, if you wear a false long chin beard to stay incognito, be aware that your speech may be more recognisable than without the beard.

Conclusion
We have good news for those whose facial hair is longer than 3 mm: There is no need to shave! A trend towards reduced intelligibility was found in the beard1 condition (mustache), but this trend was not significantly different from the beard0 (no beard) condition. Moreover, the improvement from the audio-only to the audio-visual intelligibility is larger for beard1 (mustache) than beard0 (no beard). This can be explained with a greater attentiveness of the listeners in the beard1 condition. Listeners who were presented with an impoverished visual signal paid more attention to this visual information, thereby gaining increased intelligibility. The greater attentiveness may also be reflected in the significantly longer reaction time found for beard1. Thus, if you wear a mustache in a noisy auditory environment, please slow down your speaking rate and take a break from time to time, so listeners may process your speech. Moreover, be aware that people may be attracted by and focus on your beard (this might be particularly relevant for politicians).

Similar to the findings for intelligibility, listeners showed a non- significant trend towards greater confidence that they had perceived the target word correctly when they saw speakers without any facial hair. Again, politicians might be well advised to consider this, though we leave it to the reader to decide whether most politicians would prefer to be better or less well understood. Based on our data, we were not able to verify whether differences in the shape of the facial hair affect intelligibility. Such an investigation may be carried  out in the future with participants who do not mind shaving their facial hair, re-growing it, trimming it, shaving again, re-growing, trimming, and so on, in accordance with the wishes of a bunch of phoneticians interested in visual  speech intelligibility or—put more positively—in the name of science.

Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Jörg Dreyer for technical support, all participants, Jim Scobbie for proposing this work for AIR, and Jean-Luc Schwartz for useful comments. This work was supported by a grant from the BMBF. It is dedicated to all men with facial hair and Dieter Fuchs.

References
AMI (American Mustache Institute) website, retrieved August 2, 2009.

Dohen, M., H. Loevenbruck, and H. Hill,”A Multi-measurement Approach to the Identification of the Audiovisual Facial Correlates of Contrastive Focus in French,” AVSP-2005 British Columbia, 2005, pp. 115–6.

Grant, K.W. and P.-F. Seitz, “The Use of Visible Speech Cues for Improving Auditory Detection of Spoken Sentences,” Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 108, no. 3, 2000, pp. 1197–1208.

Ito T., M. Tiede, and D.J. Ostry, “Somatosensory Function  in Speech Perception,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A., vol. 106, no. 4, 2009, pp. 1245–8.

Wietig, W. Der Bart. Zur Kulturgeschichte des Bartes von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. PhD dissertation at the University of Hamburg, 2005.

Note: An extended paper with the same title will be published in Curiosities and Regularities in Speech and Language, ed. by M Zygis, C. Mooshammer, P. Hoole, and
S. Fuchs.

Author Affiliations

1 Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Berlin, Germany
2 University of Western Sydney, Australia
3 Instituto de Engehnaria Electrónica e Telemática de Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
4 IB-Hochschule, Berlin, Germany

Images, with the exception of Charles Darwin and Figure 1, are courtesy of the NeatoShop.

_____________________

This article is republished with permission from the January-February 2010 issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. You can download or purchase back issues of the magazine, or subscribe to receive future issues. Or get a subscription for someone as a gift!

Visit their website for more research that makes people LAUGH and then THINK.

Attention, hipsters and mustache lovers! Now you can freshen up your breath and carry a mint shaped like the world’s most awesome/overused/so-overused-it’s-awesome real life meme.

That’s right – behold, the Moustache Mints from the Neatoshop (the ‘Stache Tin really does make it so much better): Link

(Hint: Also perfect for Valentine’s Day Gift for the hipsters in your life)

He lived during a time when mustaches could be mustaches, and not simply a means to mask a scrawny hipster’s weak chin and acne scars.

Behold the awesomeness of Napoleon Jackson Tecumseh Dana, Bushrod Johnson, Absalom Baird, John Sappington Marmaduke, and others. All feature links to further information. Link -via Metafilter

Hipster Mustache – $3.95

Have you always wanted to know what it is like to date a hipster? Congratulations your prayers have been answered! With the Hipster Mustache from the NeatoShop you can now turn your boring guy into a cool hipster. It’s like dating someone new without having to go through any of the trouble.

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more mustache fun.

Mustache Bandages – $4.95

Have you been endlessly searching for a way to cleverly disguise your open wound? Well look no further! Mustache Bandages from the NeatoShop were made for you. No one will recognize the boo-boo that lurks behind this little number.

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more mustache fun!

Because nobody likes cold lips and stale chips, be sure to keep all your potato chips fresh (and very hip) with the Flavor Savers Mustache Clips from the NeatoShop.

This clever mustache-inspired item is our 2,000th item on the NeatoShop. It’s hard to believe that we opened our online shop two years ago with just a handful of T-shirts!

Link | See also: Moustache Mints and other mustache-related items

Throughout history, scores of famous figures, renowned characters and admired personalities have had one thing in common. They all wore with pride that most masculine of marks, the mustache.  Originally created as a design ad for Moustaches Make a Difference, these images show some popular personalities and figures from the past and present with and without a mustache.  Along with funny explanations of each.  Link

What goes great with a great mustache? Why, a bottle of wine, of course!

With the Handlebar Wine Corkscrew from the NeatoShop, you can have a great mo’ and drink mo’ wine too. Plus, as if this ‘stache isn’t awesome enough, it can also pop open bottle caps, if beer be your thing.

Link | More Mustache-inspired items | Fun Party Supplies

So. You think you know your ‘staches. We’ll see about that: can you identify these 14 of history’s greatest mustaches? Just use this guide, handily printed on the 12 oz. Great Moustaches Mug from the NeatoShop: Link | See also: Fun and Unusual Glassware & Drinkware

What do Tom Selleck, Frank Zappa, and Mexican Molly have in common? Turns out that all three understand the power of the mustache in attracting mates:

Scientists were unsure why male Mexican mollies wear an extravagant moustache-like structure on their top lip.

Now a study has revealed that female fish find the moustache sexually attractive, and it is likely to be a sexually selected trait.

As well as being visually-attractive, the moustache may be used to rub the female fish’s genitals, exciting them.

Link

Previously on Neatorama: 30 Strangest Animal Mating Habits

[YouTube - Link]

Larry McClure won the Best Mustache award in the inaugural National Beard and Mustache championships, and his 31 inch (tip to tip) mustache is undeniably deserving. Whether you’re rocking a middle school dirty stache, a full out mountain man beard, or meticulously remaining clean shaven, I’m sure you can appreciate the artistry and manliness that is this man’s mustache. It’s great to set goals in life, and I think I’ve just found mine… well, at least one of them.

Link

]]> http://www.neatorama.com/2010/06/18/national-mustache-champion/feed/ 5 http://www.neatorama.com/2009/10/05/fighting-cancer-with-mustache/ http://www.neatorama.com/2009/10/05/fighting-cancer-with-mustache/#comments Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:31:06 +0000 Alex http://www.neatorama.com/2009/10/05/fighting-cancer-with-mustache/ Asylum blog brought to our attention not one, but two strangely awesome fundraising efforts benefiting cancer foundations. All you’ve got to do is grow a mustache (which is sadly one of those things I can’t do to save my life – darn these Asian genes!) and get people to donate:

Would you like to participate? You’ve got two choices:

1. Mustaches vs. Cancer starts October 5 and lasts for 56 days. Proceeds go to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

2. Movember goes throughout November, with money raised benefiting prostate and testicular cancer foundations.

All you have to do is register with your charity of choice and ask friends and family to donate money to see pictures of you looking increasingly more awesome. If you decide to participate in either charity, check back in at Asylum later this month for free swag and contests. Also, whether or not you participate, you’re invited to the Stache Bash.

Link – Thanks Alex!

And I think most horses share my predicament (or luck, depending your point of view) except for this one: Alfie, a 10-year-old Shire cross, not only has a ‘stache … he’s also very proud of it!

The moustache may look somewhat incongruous given its fair colour compared to his black and white colouring and well-meaning staff thought he would rather be without it.

However Alfie clearly enjoys the look and groom Justine Greenslade said all efforts to clip it had been in vain. "He’s obviously rather proud of his facial hair," she said. "He runs a mile if he thinks we’re going to trim it."

Link (Photo: Eyecatch Pictures)

Choose from pirate, mustache, antlers and other designs.

Link