In 1809, the Ottoman Empire wanted to warn the Serbian people not to attempt any more foolish rebellion*, so it created this macabre monument:

Serbian forces dug new trenches under the local command of the Duke, Stevan Sindjelic. Since there was such a great defensive strategy
between the Serbian leaders, Sinjelic found himself unprepared. He realized the situation was hopeless, so he blew up the ammunition store with his own pistol.

Afterwards, Turkish commander, Hurshid Pasha, ordered the decapitation of all the Serbian bodies, even erecting a monument using the heads as building material. The tower itself was 10 feet high, contained 952 skulls, and was topped with the head of Sindjalic himself.

During the later part of the 19th century, the skulls were removed, both as macabre souvenirs of battle and proper burials. In 1892, there were only 50 left on the tower and a chapel was built over top to preserve what little remained.

Link | More at Atlas Obscura and Wikipedia (Photo: Wikimedia/Freerspska.org)

*note: the warning didn't exactly work. A few years later in 1815, Serbia rebelled again and that time, achieved semi- and then full-independence.

The American philosopher Homer Simpson once praised the concept of the motorhome as "a car I can go to the bathroom in." The custom-built (no, sadly, this was not a production vehicle) Bath Tub Buggy made by George Barris during the 60s and 70s is the fulfillment of this dream:

The design features a bathroom. In front of the grille is an actual handsink. The rear displays a french bathtub. Hardware and facets for each bathroom fixture is included in brass. There is a tile flooring with long hair mats. Front headlights are spot beam or flood and the rear lights are ornamental styled bathroom fixtures.

The listing doesn't say firmly that the fixtures aren't also functional. There's really one one way to know for sure.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260789351608&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT#v4-38 via Jalopnik | Photo: eBay

Designer Lulin Ding has interesting ideas about makeup. She dreamt up this LED Eyeshadow contraption because she was "interested in the way women wear eyeshadow and how most of the time you can only see the details when their eyes are closed." The effect is admittedly kind of cool, but the apparatus looks painful, irritating and unsafe. Ding has a video of the LED Eyeshadow in action; click through to cringe as you watch her blink.

Link via Gizmodo | Image: Lulin Ding

In what seems a bit like a modernist reenactment of the Mad Hatter's tea party, the venerable Stephen Fry sat down with Lady Gaga for tea and an interview for FT Magazine. It's a weird pairing, no doubt, but how can anyone sitting next to a woman in a horned headdress not seem weird? Fry acknowledges this fact straightforwardly.

“Ho, ho,” I thought to myself. “Someone has had the idea that it would be amusing for the ‘quintessentially English’ Mr Fry to be seen ‘taking afternoon tea’ with a broad from the Bowery. Oh well, one plays these games and the scones did look rather delicious. I readied my iPhone for recording, sat on the sofa and consulted the notebook in which I had jotted down my questions.

Read the rest of the piece, which is just fascinating, on FT.com.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/0cca76f0-873a-11e0-b983-00144feabdc0.htmll#axzz1NfBdHemA | Image: Shamil Tanna

Moose Head Mobile Phone Stand - $7.95

Have you been searching endlessly for the perfect phone stand?  Well, look no further! You need the Moose Head Mobile Phone Stand from the NeatoShop.  This fabulous little stand screams I am one with the wilderness.

Now prop up that phone, get comfy, and start watching your favorite moose calling videos.  Being outdoorsy is so much fun!

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more fun-tastic Mobile Phone Accessories!

Link

Nature is always throwing weirdness at us, and today's helping comes in the form of a hermaphroditic goat--a breedable male that can be milked.

A visitor to a goat show in Brazil did not hesitate to buy a hermaphrodite goat - a male goat that can be milked - when he first came across it. The goat is a clearly a Billy goat. And, translating the colloquial phrase "pai de chiqueiro", implies that it can be mated with a female goat. But, as seen in the video, the scrotum region apparently serves a dual purpose of being a set of udders that can be squeezed to get milk.

The interview is in Portuguese, but is subtitled for the non-Brazilian. Click through for more information than you'll ever need.

http://www.people-with-pets-are-happier.com/hermaphrodite-goat/ | Image: TV Tambaú, Brasil

It's Memorial Day weekend and just about everyone will be out grilling some burgers. But have you ever thought about the science behind the food you're eating (too much of)? Scientific American and NBC Learn have teamed up to bring you answers to the burning questions behind your holiday grillathon.

As you sear the meat and toast the buns, have you ever wondered why grilling beats boiling? Or why ketchup and mustard tend to separate, but mayonnaise does not? Or why a pickle lasts so long? The videos include a series on the hamburger and its symbiotic accompaniments—all part of the celebration of the International Year of Chemistry 2011.

Click through to watch!

Link | Image: Berkeley.edu

Sure, it looks like a wayward ball of fluff. Maybe a even baby tribble. But that little guy in the pic above is the White Flannel Moth caterpillar, and the photographer who picked it up? Not happy. Those tiny little hairs are urticating setae, poisoned barbs that break off in the skin, causing pain and itchiness and general freaked-outness.

The Ark In Space has a whole collection of crazy-looking caterpillars (including one that looks like a toupee for Chewbacca, should he ever need one). Click through for the gallery!

Link | Image: Flickr User Urtica

Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial beginning of summer, since many schools are out, pools are opening, employers are juggling everyone's vacations, and the weather is nice enough for a cookout. I hear there's a big car race this weekend as well. But let's not forget the original meaning of Memorial Day -to remember those who gave the last full measure in service to their country. If you're not familiar with the poppy symbol here, check out the story from the Veterans of Foreign Wars. And since you have some extra time, why not catch up on everything that's been happening this week at Neatorama!

On Wednesday, John Farrier gave us 14 Facts You Might Not Know about The Addams Family, complete with a singing, dancing Lurch!

Jill Harness had an awesome roundup of 18 Seriously Cool Bookshelves & Bookcases.

Monday, Uncle John's Bathroom Reader filled us in on the story of Maneki Neko,  Japan's "beckoning cat."

“The Fruit Fly (Genotype: nevermore)” was a rare but entertaining poetry break from our friends at the Annals of Improbable Research

Mental_floss magazine brought us a guide to How to Get Your Face on a Postage Stamp.

In the What Is It? game this week, Berhard was the first of many with the correct answer; this is a trowel bayonet. Fafa had the funniest answer: a combination pizza server and zombie defense knife! Both win t-shirts from the NeatoShop.

Congratulation to the Chad Huskey and Maxx, winners of the Decipher the Doodle contest at NeatoBambino! You can see the winning answers in the update post. No one came anywhere near the correct explanation for the doodle (this frowning figure is Alex), so the two funniest entries won t-shirts!

Want more? Be sure to check our Facebook page every day for extra content, contests, discussions, videos, and links you won't find here. Also, our Twitter feed will keep you updated on what's going around the web in real time.

(YouTube link)

Back in January, Newsweek listed Grand Rapids, Michigan as one of "America's Dying Cities." Mayor George Hartwell did not agree, and said as much. The city responded by producing an epic LipDub video to Don McLean's "American Pie," featuring 5,000 of the city's residents, recorded on May 22nd. Whether this makes any sense at all is up for debate, but you have to admit the video is a masterpiece of civic participation and timing. For their part, the Newsweek website distanced itself from the Dying Cities list by explaining it was content from a partner site. The $40,000 cost of the video project was underwritten by sponsors that are listed at YouTube.  -via Metafilter

The American family has reached a milestone: according to the Census Bureau, married couples are now no longer a majority in American households.

“The days of Ozzie and Harriet have faded into the past,” said William Frey, the senior demographer at Brookings who analyzed the data. [...]

Today, traditional patterns have been turned upside down. Women with college degrees are now more likely to marry than those with just high school diplomas, the reverse of several decades ago, said June Carbone, a law professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and co-author of “Red Families v. Blue Families.”

Rising income inequality has divided American society, making college-educated people less likely to marry those without college degrees. Members of that educated group have struck a new path: they marry later and stay married. In contrast, women with only a high school diploma are increasingly opting not to marry the fathers of their children, whose fortunes have declined along with the country’s economic opportunities.

“Employment instability depresses marriage rates,” Ms. Carbone said. Explaining the reasoning, she said, “I can support myself and the kid, but not myself, the kid, and him.”

(Photo: Reluctant Groom from the NeatoShop)

Last week, it was marmite. Soon, it will be pot-smoking tourists who will be banned from Dutch cannabis shops:

The Dutch government on Friday said it would start banning tourists from buying cannabis from "coffee shops" and impose restrictions on Dutch customers by the end of the year.

The Netherlands is well known for having one of Europe's most liberal soft drug policies that has made its cannabis shops a popular tourist attraction, particularly in Amsterdam.

Backed by the far-right party of anti-immigrant politician Geert Wilders, the coalition government that came into power last year announced plans to curb drug tourism as part of a nationwide program to promote health and fight crime.

"In order to tackle the nuisance and criminality associated with coffee shops and drug trafficking, the open-door policy of coffee shops will end," the Dutch health and justice ministers wrote in a letter to the country's parliament on Friday.

Link

"Signature scent" doesn't get any more personal than this, folks! If you love to hear the unusual things artists do in the name of art, "urine" for a treat:

Conceptual artist Cherry Tree has a scent of mystery about her. And the smell of urine. Her urine. And it's intentional.

For the last five years, Tree, who splits time between Missouri and Spain, has been turning her own urine into perfume.

"I am very much into recycling," Tree, born Charity Blansit, told AOL Weird News. "And urine is something I've thought needs to be recycled, since it's something that gets eliminated." [...]

"I was fascinated by how the smell changes depending on what you eat," she said. "For instance, it smells really good after you eat a lot of honey and it smells terrible after eating chicken."

David Moye of AOL News has the full story: Link | Cherry Tree's blog - via Fark

An expedition off the North Carolina coast recovered the anchor from the wreckage of pirate Blackbeard's ship, Queen Anne's Revenge:

The Queen Anne's Revenge is believed to have run aground in the shallow waters off Beaufort in 1718. The ship was discovered in 1996, with piecemeal recovery of artifacts intensifying only a few years ago. [...]

The expedition is trying to score a trove of 18th-century goods, which will be used to educate the public and raise awareness of underwater preservation efforts. The site has already yielded more than 250,000 artifacts, including cannons, gold, platters, glass, beads, shackles and rope, according to the state.

Why, just in time to mark the opening of the summer blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. How do they time this stuff? Link

See also: NeatoShop's Pirate Store

(Video Link)

Quickly! A wormhole will only open if the ocarina is played at 88 beats per minute! This ingenious fan film by Grant Duffrin explains and unites the stories of The Legend of Zelda franchise by suggesting that they are all necessary components of a particular timeline. Doc Brown's mission is to ensure that Link takes the necessary steps to set the chain of events in motion.

via Topless Robot