John Farrier's Blog Posts

A Particular Set of Skills

(Narcolepsy)

Taken 3 will come out at the beginning of next year. Taken 4, er, I mean, T4ken, should start development immediately.

Taken 5 should be a romantic comedy just for a change of pace.

-via Daily of the Day


John Lennon's "Imagine" Performed on a Ukulele, a Slide Whistle, and a Spinning Plate


(Video Link)

Jack Lattimer is a musician and performer who consistently offers surprises in his funny YouTube videos. For this one, he plays John Lennon's iconic song "Imagine." Lattime begins by spinning a plate on what appears to be a plastic straw, inserting that straw into his ukulele, then playing the ukulele with his hands and working a slide whistle with his mouth.

-via Nothing to Do with Aborath


Lab Grown Penises Ready for Testing on Humans


(Photo: Dr. Anthony Atala, Director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, via Winston Tech Salem)

The loss of the penis through physical trauma, such as a battlefield injury, or the malformation of it as the result of a birth defect, can be a brutally debilitating event in a man’s life. But a solution may be on the way.

The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina has developed a technique to grow human penises in laboratory environments. The process involves taking cells from a man’s own penis, then growing those cells on a collagen scaffold. The reformed penis then grows over the scaffold.

The Institute has already produced rabbit penises successfully using this method. Soon, it will attempt the process on human patients. It is uncertain whether these penises will be capable of erections.

-via Stuff

Previously on Neatorama: Doctors Successfully Implant Laboratory-Grown Human Vaginas


Why Does Star Trek's Dr. McCoy Wear a Pinky Ring?

Lately, I have been watching the original Star Trek series--something I have not regularly done since about 1988. I'm watching the show from start to finish. I noticed that on one early episode entitled "Mudd's Women," Dr. Leonard McCoy wears on his left pinky finger a gold ring with a blue stone.

It struck me as an unusual costuming choice, so I did some googling. Terry Lee Rioux's From Sawdust to Stardust: The Biography of DeForest Kelley's, Star Trek's Dr. McCoy explains why Kelley wears a pinky ring.

DeForest Kelly dearly loved his mother, Clora Kelley. Clora owned a ring that her brother had won in a card game while he was in France. When Clora died of cancer in 1957, her son was consumed with grief. But he was private about the depth of his feelings. He asked for only one item from her possessions: the ring. He wore it from then on in remembrance of her.

When Kelley was recruited for Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry was firm: the actors would not wear jewelry. But Kelley was firmer: if he wasn't allowed to wear his ring, he wouldn't be on the show. Roddenberry conceded. You can see Kelley's ring throughout the series, though the stone is often turned into the palm to make it less noticeable.

In the movie Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Sybok forces McCoy to relive his euthanasia of his own father. DeForest Kelley's ring gleams in the faint light during the scene of mourning and loss. It is a fitting accent to a story of the loss of parents. Kelley would continue to wear it until his own death in 1999.

When Star Trek was rebooted in 2009, Karl Urban took up the role of Dr. McCoy. As you can see in this screenshot, he wears a ring on the pinkie finger of his left hand. According to an internet rumor, he did so to honor his predecessor, DeForest Kelley.


Baby Bears Rescued from Hollow Tree

For 2 days, a woman in Polk County, Wisconsin heard strange animal noises from behind her home. She eventually summoned the police, who discovered two bear cubs trapped in a hollow tree (warning: auto-start). They had apparently climbed in through the top into the hollow trunk, then found themselves unable to escape. One had lodged his head in a hole.

Rescue workers cut windows into the tree trunk, which gave the bears enough room to escape.


(Video Link)

The bears were dehydrated, so the rescuers fed them watermelon, which the bears ate eagerly. Once they could escape, the two cubs fled to the woods as quickly as they could.

-via Nothing to Do with Aborath | Photo: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, USA Today


Hiker Stumbles Upon an Abyss in Portugal

Redditor RTWin80weeks was hiking along the beach outside of Lagos, Portugal when he came upon this amazing rock formation. It's a hole that goes deep into the earth--farther than he could see.


(Video Link)

Other redditors claim to have been there. Ski6666 made this video showing the other side, which empties into the ocean. -SSS- thinks that this spot is at Farol Ponta Da Peidade, an area known for its exceptional natural beauty.

-via Twisted Sifter


Polyphonic Singing Is Weird and Amazing


(Video Link)

This is Anna-Marie Hefele, a German singer whom blogger Marilyn Bellamy aptly describes as "a human theremin." She specializes in polyphonic singing, which means singing multiple notes simultaneously. When she performs, she can pair notes however she wishes in a vast variety of combinations. The musical effect is stunning and unlike anything I've ever heard from a human voice.


Important PSAs from Jim Benton

The famous cartoonist Jim Benton spends most of his time entertaining readers with his funny takes on the human experience and raking in the piles of cash that result from doing so. But he also wants to give back. He cares about us, so he created 6 public service announcements highlighting important skills and values that we should all keep in mind.

Continue reading

The First Baby Ever Born from a Transplanted Uterus


(Photo: The Lancet)

3 years ago, I mentioned that researchers in Sweden were planning the world's first uterus transplant. This would have offered new options for women for whom fertility is a lost cause. According to Dr. Mats Brannstrom of the University of Gothenburg, their efforts have been fruitful. Brannstrom and his colleagues published an article in the medical journal The Lancet reporting on the first successful live birth from a transplanted uterus.

Last month, a 36-year old woman who received one of the transplanted uteri gave birth to a premature but healthy baby boy. She had been born without a uterus, but had healthy ovaries. A 61-year old friend of her family donated her uterus to the woman. 6 weeks after she gave birth, the woman had a period, which indicates that the uterus remains healthy. She could try for a second baby, but the AP reports that she's not considering that right now.

-via io9


Deep Fried Pumpkin Spice Latte

It's fall, so it's time to have a Pumpkin Spice Latte--a drink that Starbucks offers only during this time of year. But you can do more with it than just drink it. Properly prepared, it's an entire meal.

Amy runs Oh, Bite It!, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite food blogs. She's been redefining what can be deep fried. You may remember that she successfully deep fried tequila shots. Now she's turned her mind to deep frying this caffeinated treat.

Her deep fried Pumpkin Spice Latte consists of pound cake soaked in Pumpkin Spice Latte, then deep fried. So it's quite simple. She suggests coating the cake bits with powdered sugar or whipped cream.


Do You Like Airline Food? You Can Have It Delivered to Your Home


(Photo: TravellingOtter)

Airline food is so commonly known as terrible that it's a proverbial example of an overused joke. Some people, though, really like it. But it usually only available on long flights. What do you do if you want an airplane dinner without paying for an expensive ticket?

A company in Germany now offers that opportunity. Air Food One delivers frozen airline meals to customers' homes. They're made by LSG Sky Chefs, which is the company that makes Lufthansa's meals. The meals match what the company is providing to Lufthansa's business class during the week. Each meal costs about €9.99 ($12.50 USD).

-via Marginal Revolution


Robotic Butt Tests the Strength of Smartphones

Some owners of the new iPhone 6 report that it bends and even breaks when kept in back pants pockets. Consumer technology journalists are calling the scandal "Bendgate"--a reference to the Watergate scandal that brought down the Nixon Administration. This hardware problem probably won't destroy Apple, but it has caused the company to become the butt of many jokes.


(Video Link)

Samsung, one of Apple's competitors, would like for you to know that its Galaxy Note 4 smartphones are buttproof--or at least buttresistant. As this video shows, Samsung uses a robotic butt to repeatedly pound its phones in order to test their durability.

-via Technabob


Smartphone Digital Assistant Can Speak Klingon


(Video Link)

Cortana is the interactive digital assistant on Microsoft's Windows smartphones. Like Siri on Apple's iPhones, you can talk to Cortana and receive verbal responses.

The engineers who designed Cortana are Trekkies, so they programmed appropriate responses into it. As you can see from the above video, you can ask Cortana to speak in Klingon.

If you don't speak Klingon, don't worry: you can also speak in English and give essential commands, such as "Beam me up" and "Set phasers to stun."

-via The Geek Twins


Photographers in Love Travel around the World to Replicate the Same Pose

David Walter Banks and Kendrick Brinson are photographers in Los Angeles. They love their craft and they love each other.

In 2010, a friend snapped a shot of Brinson leaping into Banks and kissing him as he held her in midair with one arm. It was a beautiful, perfectly balanced photo that captured their passion for each other.

So Brinson and Banks decided to recreate it . . . everywhere! As they travel the world, they use a camera timer to photograph themselves in that pose.

Puerto Rico

Continue reading

Taquito Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Amy of the food blog Oh, Bite It! has a great idea for dinner tonight. Her grilled cheese sandwiches are perfect for an elegant evening. To make one, first defrost 5 frozen taquitos. Line them up on a griddle and pour a beaten egg over them. Then add a slice of cheese-like food product over it. Cook an identical platform of 5 more taquitos and combine the two halves.


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Profile for John Farrier

  • Member Since 2012/08/04


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