Cadbury Creme Egg Sandwich

Alex

๐Ÿฅช Sandwich chain Subway and chocolate maker Cadbury collaborated to launch one of the strangest Easter-themed food ever made. Behold, the SubMelt, which is basically a Cadbury Crรจme Egg sandwich. What do you think? Yum or yuck?

๐ŸŽต Now this is one way to sell a house: nightclub singer turned real estate agent Claire Cossey created a singing real estate ad based on the 1984 theme song from the movie The NeverEnding Story. Cossey called her version The Never Ending Property.

๐Ÿ” This chicken lamp puts the lightbulb where the sun don't shine.

๐Ÿ•น๏ธ Remember playing the endless running game Temple Run on your iPhone way back in 2011? The iconic game has now been recreated in Unreal Engine 5.

๐ŸŽฌ Are you an action movie hero? Then chances are, your name is John, James, or Jack. It's scientifically proven!

๐Ÿ• Rollo and Sadie are two dogs that became best friends during the pandemic. But when Rollo's owner had to move far away, the two dogs managed to stay in touch ... with Facetime!

๐ŸŒป Spring is here, and it's time for our gardens to shine! Here's a cute tee for those who love planting things: Gardening is My Therapy by indie artist Edu Ely - via Shirt Stack

๐Ÿ˜Š ICYMI: 7 Funny Tees and Big & Tall T-Shirts

๐Ÿ‘• Don't miss NeatoShop's sitewide special - save up to 20% on all tees sitewide.

Please check out our new sites Artgonaut, TastyTastic and Grand Blog Auto. Thank you!


The Hill of Seven Colors

This is Cerro de los Siete Colores, the Hill of Seven Colors in English. You'll find it in the Andes, in Argentina's Jujuy province. Tectonic movement revealed the earth's many layers of sediment and their amazing colors. The dark brown is rich in manganese and is about two million years old. The red layer is a mixture of red clay and sand laid down three to four million years ago. The brown and purple layers are around 90 million years ago and are colored by the ratio of lead and calcium carbonate. The yellow is also from that period, with a layer heavy in sulphur. The white layer is limestone, at least 400 million years old.

The legend of the hill is that the children of the village of Purmamarca at its base decided to paint the hill one day, and snuck away for seven nights to leave it as you see it today. Read more about Cerro de los Siete Colores and see more gorgeous pictures at Kuriositas.

(Image credit: travelwayoflife)


Watch Water Solve a Maze



You may have seen a popular TikTok video by Bergman Joe in which water finds its way through a maze with the utmost efficiency. It's an animated simulation, so Steve Mould (previously at Neatorama) felt challenged to recreate it in the real world, just to see if he could do it.

Water in a maze presents some interesting ideas. Trapped air in a maze will force the water to work more efficiently (and only if you can make your maze airtight), but surface tension will force it to work less efficiently. Mould made several different sizes of mazes to see how the different factors changed the overall scheme of the fluid dynamics involved.   

As a bonus, you'll also learn the basics of making your own maze, which is interesting even if you never consider trying it. This video is only a bit more than seven minutes- the rest is for the sponsor. -via Metafilter


The Rise and Fall and Rise Again of Meyer Lemons

The Meyer lemon is named for intrepid “plant explorer” Frank N. Meyer, who discovered the lemon variety in China in 1907. His story alone is worth checking out the history of the Meyer lemon, but he did not live to see his namesake lemon become a sensation in the United States. It was more fragrant and hardy than other available lemons, and soon it became a standard tree in California household gardens, bearing lovely fruit for those who owned one. Grower in Texas and Florida followed suit.

But then in the 1940s, it was discovered that the Meyer lemon tree was the cause of citrus tristeza virus (CTV), commonly called “quick decline citrus” virus. The disease was getting out of hand because the Meyer lemon trees carried the virus, but was more immune to its effects than other trees. Therefore the lemon trees did not show symptoms for years, but aphids carried the virus to orange and grapefruit trees, which succumbed much more quickly. The war was one to eradicate Meyer lemon trees in the US.

Yet we use Meyer lemons to this day. Read how the eradication program was carried out, and what saved the Meyer lemon, at Atlas Obscura. -via Strange Company

(Image credit: Burkhard Mücke)


Britney Spears's "Lucky" as a Hairspray-Style Cover

The musical collective Postmodern Jukebox has become famous around the world for remixing modern songs with styles from earlier times in the Twentieth Century, including ragtime, jazz, swing, doo wop, sock hop, and more.

Their most recent music video is inspired by the rhythm and blues music of the early 1960s that is depicted in the Broadway stage and film musical Hairspray. Jeffrey James sings "Lucky," a song most famously sung by Britney Spears for an album released in 2000. The lyrics tell the story of a girl who is a Hollywood star and, consequently, thought to be extraordinarily lucky to have such a happy life. But, as would turn out to be appropriate for Spears's own life, is actually lonely and sad.


Russian Tank Captured in Ukraine Found at Louisiana Truck Stop

This isn't some old T-55 from a couple generations ago that you could buy cheaply after the Soviet Union fell in 1991.* This is a T-90, which is Russia's top-shelf modern main battle tank.

Redditor /u/Mutantlight snapped this photo from a Peto's truck stop and casino in Roanoke, Louisiana. The Drive followed on the story and contacted the manager. She said that the truck hauling the trailer with the tank broke down and the driver asked if he could leave it at the stop while he went to Houston for another truck. The Drive learned that the tank had been captured in Ukraine last fall. Somehow, it has been brought to the United States.

-via Dave Barry

*There was some truly amazing Warsaw Pact milsurp available in the early 1990s.


"Gangsta's Paradise" Sung in the Style of Johnny Cash

"Gangsta's Paradise" written by Coolio and Doug Rasheed and performed by the former is one of the most iconic hip hop songs of all time. It's even been honored with a "Weird" Al Yankovic parody, which is how a musician knows that he's really made a cultural impact.

The song is a tragic ballad describing the narrator's regret mixed with a sense of honor. It's a crime story that would be well-completed if followed by Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues," which tells us what happens at the end of a criminal career.

In this video, musician Bob Strachan sings Coolio's lyrics with Cash's melody in a powerful synthesis of two genres.

-via The Awesomer


Donโ€™t Touch The Coins Left On A Gravestone!

Thereโ€™s a certain tradition behind these little trinkets. If youโ€™ve ever spotted some items left on somebodyโ€™s gravestone, itโ€™s not just there randomly. It usually is left because of sentiment. 

Leaving coins on a gravestone signifies that the person buried there was a member of the military. These pennies are a symbol of remembrance, intended to honor the individual for their service to their country. They can be left by loved ones, friends, or coworkers who visit the deceased to convey their pride.

These coins can also make an impact on the family left behind by the deceased. Now, note that each type of coin left holds different meanings. For example, if someone left behind a nickel, it means that the visitor who left the coin went to boot camp with the person buried. A dime, on the other hand, signifies that the visitor served alongside the deceased. 

Lastly, if you see a quarter, it means that the person who left it was present when the soldier passed away. 

Image credit: Ralph C.


Slow Life: A Clever Shadow Art by Pierre Brault

Alex

๐ŸŒž From our new art site Artgonaut (check it out!), here's an art installation by Pierre Brault on a building in Paris that cleverly use the Sun to cast a shadow that reads "Slow Life"

๐Ÿ•น๏ธ The Super Mario Bros theme song is now in the National Recording Registry. Miss C was kind enough to include several fantastic clips of the theme song played by a youth orchestra, played on a Marimba with four mallets, and on a bandura and accordion. TIL bandura, a Ukrainian folk instrument, can replicate the coin sound effect perfectly!

๐Ÿคฃ Self check-out has an unexpectedly hot item in the bagging area.

๐Ÿ  This unassuming house has a Mickey Mouse-shaped portal that'll take you to your own private Disney World. It's for sale for $1.1 million, so it's almost as expensive as a trip to the amusement park for a family of four (Image: REcolorado)

๐ŸŽฌ Before green screen and CGI, how did old timey Hollywood movies film those trick special effect shots?

๐Ÿš— The crazy story behind the 1932 Bugatti Royale Esders involves King Zog, the self-proclaimed king of Albania who had over 600 blood feuds. This one is from our new car site Grand Blog Auto, which we'll build up over time.

๐ŸฆŸ This one is pretty nifty: a single pollen on top of a fly's compound eye (image: Dariusz Pawlik)

๐Ÿšข Is it the Black Pearl from Pirates of the Caribbean? This woman captured the video of a ghost ship in action.

๐Ÿ˜ธ This house comes with an unexpected but cute surprise: bonus cats! How fur-tunate.

๐Ÿž This hand painted bread by artist Rachel Ryle looks too good to eat! From our new food site TastyTastic (check it out!) Image: Rachel Ryle

โค๏ธ The cuteness is strong with this one: 9 Cute Baby Yoda Tees and Big & Tall T-Shirts (and while we're at it, don't miss: save up to 20% on NeatoShop's sitewide special going on right now)

๐Ÿ‘• One last link: Pros and Cons of Print on Demand with DTG from State of Tee Art. This one is shop talk, so click only if you want to know all about shirt printing.


The Weird Ways We Pay for Things



This little skit may seem funny in a "back in my day..." way, but the way we pay for things today is altogether weird. I got used to paying for everything with a credit card because of the points, but then stores won the right to add a surcharge for their expenses, so I try to have some cash on me lately for small purchases. Most of my regular bills go to a credit card automatically, and I pay that once a month with a phone transfer from the bank. I use PayPal for mail order. My kids use debit cards and Venmo. Or at least one does; the other doesn't have any money, so it's all credit.  

I still write checks for bills where the drive-through window is close by, and for taxes. But stores either won't take checks at all, or they don't need you to fill them out at all because they just run the check through a machine and get the money transferred. It never occurred to me that a store would give up on checks because the cashiers can't read cursive. But I'm not surprised that young people don't write checks. The banks won't let you open a checking account until you're 18, and by then it's a bit late to get your parents to show you how to do it. Now I'll step down from my soap box and let you tell us how you feel. -via Nag on the Lake


A Dozen Big Projects Accomplished in Record Time

Once upon a time, feature-length movies were filmed in shoots of two to six weeks, but that was back when they didn't have to worry about color, sound, focus groups, or marketing. Now movies can take years to complete. You can blame competition, audience expectations, and big budgets. But Rocky was a blockbuster zipped up in no time at all. Maybe that's because it was a story Sylvester Stallone had dreamed about for years already. You could say the same thing about a band's first album, which might contain original compositions that the band had been playing for years. The second album is not so easy. But sometimes when inspiration hits, you go with the flow and don't worry about refining, especially if you're as talented as Freddy Mercury.

A few other really successful projects came about in astonishingly short time, including architecture, video games, and one very fast mountain climber, in a pictofacts list at Cracked.


How to Control Your Lucid Dreaming



It's pretty rare these days that I wake up and realize that I've been dreaming. But just a few minutes later, all memory of the dream is gone, and I go about my daily routine. It's only the memory of remembering that lets me know I dream at all. But maybe you're one of those people who can remember dreams, and maybe you're even sometimes aware that you're dreaming before you wake up. Experiencing a dream while knowing it's a dream is called lucid dreaming, and a few people are lucky enough to be able to guide those dreams by force of will. The good news is that there are some things you can do to induce and practice lucid dreaming and your control of it. Bright Side has some tips and tricks that will help you. If you ask me, it seems to be more trouble than I want to put into it, but you do you. Even if you don't want to try it, there are a some tips for a better night's sleep toward the end of this video. -via Digg


You Can Get Married with the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile

The Little White Chapel in Las Vegas is a famous wedding venue for couples who would like to get married legally, quickly, and stylishly. There are many package options, including getting hitched by an Elvis impersonator and using the drive-thru window for couples who are in a hurry.

Food & Wine magazine reports that on April 15 and 16, couples will also have the option of getting married while standing in front of the iconic Oscar Mayer Wienermobile for free. As a promotional gimmick, Oscar Mayer is covering the cost of the wedding itself and providing a "Hotdogger"--an official Wienermobile driver--to officiate at the ceremony.

-via Jessamyn West | Photo: Oscar Mayer


Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" Using Medieval Instruments

Algar the Bard is a musician straight out of the Fourteenth Century. He composes and performs adaptations of modern songs with medieval themes and instruments. Past performances include R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion" and Black Sabbath's "Iron Man".

For his latest video, Algar is bardrolling us with Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up." Nothing about his performance lets us down. Enjoy this chipper approach to the modern classic on the lute-guitar, whistles, and something called an Irish bouzouki. That latter instrument is a modern Irish alteration of a Greek instrument that can be traced back to Byzantine times.

-via Born in Space


Recreational Drugs in 1000 BCE

Scientists did an analysis of hair from a 3,600-year-old body unearthed at a burial site on the island on Menorca, off the coast of Spain. The hair showed traces of hallucinogenic drug use. They also found evidence of a storage box for such drugs, elaborately carved with geometric designs. Groovy. So what kinds of hallucinogenic drugs did people use that long ago? The Face gives us four plants available at the time that could be used to produce hallucinogenic effects. The caveat is that these are all poisonous, and could easily be lethal. Yet ancient people used them as medicine and for mind-expanding rituals. You have to wonder how many people died before they got the preparation and dosages right for the effects they were looking for.  -via Digg

(Image credit: Michael Pirrello)


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